


what's in a name

by ciaconnaa



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I love the gaang, this is sappy and completely self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciaconnaa/pseuds/ciaconnaa
Summary: At her request, Sokka teaches Toph to write her name.He learns a thing or two about the weight his own name holds in the process.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Sokka
Comments: 37
Kudos: 384





	what's in a name

“What does my name look like?”

Sokka pauses, the end of his brush still clamped between his top and bottom teeth. The hairs of the brush drip from his heavy hand and ink splatters onto the bottom of his tunic. “Your name?” he mumbles out, licking his thumb and scrubbing uselessly at the stain - only waterbending and some heavy duty soap will likely save it now. “Uh.”

Toph pulls her legs closer to her from her place on the ground, resting her chin on her knees. “Like in writing.” Her toes curl in the dirt. Her expression shifts to something a smidge guilty. “I know that’s a hard question to answer -”

“No,” Sokka cuts her off. He pulls the brush out of his mouth and sets it down. Originally, sitting outside to paint and write seemed like a good idea, but there’s dirt on the edges of his papers, a stray fire blossom petal in his ink bowl. “I mean, yeah,” he admits in a frustrated huff. “But give me a moment. I’ll think of a way to explain it to you.” 

Toph smiles then, tilting her head so her right cheek rests against her knees, and waits. Her fingers drum against her shin in time with the constant curling and uncurling of her toes in the sand. 

Sokka spaces out, staring at the paper that he’s barely touched and scraps it, turning the piece of paper over and beckoning Toph to sit by him with a pat of the ground. “Come, come.”

She crawls over and crashes lazily against his shoulder before Sokka adjusts his position and spreads his legs out, pulling Toph to sit between them, her back against his chest. “So.” He dips the brush in the slightest bit of ink before he sticks the brush in her hand. “Your name is obviously longer than everyone else’s, since you have two. But let’s just start with Toph and leave Beifong for another day.”

She nods as Sokka clasps his hand over hers and guides it over the paper. He hesitates for just a moment. “Don’t try to press. Just go with the flow.” And he moves their hands and brushes along the paper with more delicacy than he’s used to, until Toph’s name is there, written in the top corner. Her name looks good enough but he still grimaces - this isn’t the best explanation, not really.

“Nah,” Toph assures, when he says as much. “I’m sure it’s fine. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it, but I guess writing is really precise. Kind of like sandbending.”

The mention of bending gives Sokka an idea. “That’s it!” He snaps his fingers with his free hand. “Aang!” Sokka calls to where he and Zuko are currently goofing off with some old firebending game that he learned with Kuzon over a hundred years ago. “I need your help.”

He comes over, light as a feather, toes skimming the earth before his whole weight settles. To this day Toph still startles just a bit when he does that, especially when he ends up standing so close. “Whatcha guys doing?” Aang asks, leaning above the two of them to take a look at what they’re writing. “Oh! You’re teaching Toph to write her name! That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, but I think I know a way that’ll make a lot more sense to her. Aang, I need you to earthbend her name, make the characters stand up? Like they’re raised. So she’ll know the shape.”

Toph laughs a little while Aang whines. Ever since she showed him her miniature Ba Sing Se at the beach, their earthbending training has been nothing but sand and dirt precision- but the most Aang can really do yet is the basic floor plans of Zuko’s palace. “Okay, okay,” he quickly assures himself. “Can’t be too hard. Lemme just -” He adjusts his stance, moves his hands and then _poof -_ Toph’s name appears in the dirt.

Sokka looks over and watches as Toph moves her hand to press her palm to the dirt, brow furrowed as she takes into account the shapes and lines. “Huh,” she finally says. “Strange. I don’t really know what else it would look like, though,” she admits with a shrug. “Do all words look this similar or…?”

With a nod of his chin, Sokka gestures for Aang to clear Toph’s name and write another. He mouths _Katara_ and he nods back, smoothing the earth and raising it once more with Katara’s name.

“Okay, so, similar.” Toph frowns. “Very similar. At least to me. Is this Beifong?”

“Nope,” Sokka says. “Guess again.”

“...Aang?”

“Nope. This is Katara’s name,” Aang explains and then, right below it, he raises more dirt. “ _This_ is mine.”

Toph hums, fingers dragging lazily in the dirt in front of her. “Interesting,” she says, eventually. “What’s Zuko’s? Does his name look any more special because he’s royalty?”

“No,” Sokka explains as Aang earthbends again. “Not really. They just add the title. Fire Lord Zuko.”

“Ah, shoot,” Aang curses when he realizes he’s written _Prince Zuko._ He changes it, and Toph makes a sort of awed noise at the change in characters. “I keep forgetting.” He adds the word _Avatar_ in front of his own name, which Sokka has to explain aloud.

Aang and Sokka are quiet as Toph studies with her fingers and toes. “Doesn’t seem so hard,” she finally decides. “Bet I could master all of your names eventually,” and she grins her classic shit-harboring grin.

In return Sokka snorts, picking up the brush and putting it in Toph’s hand before he wraps his own around hers once more. “I’m sure you could but. Let’s just start with _Toph_ , okay?”

They spend he doesn’t know _how_ long writing her name over and over again on the parchment. Aang levels the ground and only leaves Toph’s name up for reference before he goes back to goofing off with Zuko. Suki and Katara come over occasionally, leaning over his shoulder to give advice as well as clean brushes and fresh paper. 

“Too bad all books don’t have raised letters like this,” Toph says on her nth attempt. She’s since rejected his guiding hand, but the results aren’t too promising yet. “Then maybe I could actually read them.”

Sokka falls into a sort of creative silence as he mulls that over. Not everyone has a seismic sense like her, so this earth technique wouldn’t work for _every_ blind person. But still; he imagines a modified printing press with small notes and poems, wondering if there was a way to raise the paper for her to feel. It might not be much, but hey, it’s a start. Besides, he’s on somewhat good authority from a poet society in Ba Sing Se that he can make a mean haiku.

“ _Would_ you sit long enough to even _read_ a book?” Sokka asks, once he’s imagined about seven mock print modifications.

Toph grins before she flicks the paint brush his way - more ink on his tunic. “Probably not. I’ve learned that having you guys just read everything for me is much easier. Besides -” She hesitates, voice growing softer. “I like it when you guys read to me.”

Sokka leans back, his weight on his hands. “Really?”

“Well, sure.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal, but he can tell it is. “You’re all really good storytellers. Especially you. You move your hands around like crazy, touch your face, point to who _knows_ what. You do all sorts of silly voices, too.”

He squints. “You actually _like_ those?”

“Yeah! I always laugh at your stories. Your Katara impression is _top notch.”_ She jabs her elbow into his stomach. “Your impression of me could use some work, though.”

Sokka rolls his eyes but laughs, reaching over to ruffle her hair. “Noted.”

She shoves him away, not bothering to fix the mess he made of her hair. “It’s fine. Aang surprisingly fills that gap really well.” She shifts against him, setting the brush down - the ink bleeds into the parchment, and all her attempts become nothing but a puddle. 

“It’s not _that_ surprising. I don’t think his voice has dropped all the way.”

Toph cackles at that. “That might be true. But. I think I’ll be sad when it does.”

He frowns. “How come?”

“I’m always a little sad when all your voices change. Katara’s hasn’t changed by that much, but yours and Aang’s have. Especially his.” she touches her chin, tapping the bottom of her lip with her finger. “Aang’s voice is the most...round? It carries like no one else’s though.”

“It’s probably an airbender thing,” Sokka says, thinking aloud. He’s back to imagining, only this time on the mechanics of bending, which is always migraine inducing.

“Maybe. Either way, it’s uniquely his. And I like that he can’t really finish a story without giggling. It’s nice. Aang always tells happy stories.”

Sokka smiles and leans back again. “What about my sister?”

“Katara....Katara’s voice is like a cup of tea. Warm and soothing. Occasionally, it burns.” Toph laughs. “She’s the only one who can tell a scary story _properly._ We should all take notes.”

“Hah! A voice like tea.” Sokka barks out a laugh. “Sounds like you’ve been spending a lot of time with Iroh.”

She doesn’t take the bait. Instead, she explains, “You know, Iroh’s voice is actually a lot like Zuko’s. They invite you to listen. There’s an odd cadence to them. Zuko has learned to be very careful with his words, just like his uncle.”

Sokka glances at the paper, carelessly covered in ink. He presses his thumb into where it’s still wet, leaving a print by one of the attempts of Toph’s name. 

“Suki’s is the most calming,” Toph grins. “I don’t know what it is, but she tells stories like a lullaby. I could listen to her talk all day. It’s very…” her fingers dance. “Melodic?”

“That’s nice,” he agrees, his grin taking up his whole face. “Someone in this group should be able to sing.”

“I reeeeeeally don’t think that Iroh needs an excuse to add singalongs to music night.”

He winces, thinking of his sister’s attempts at singing in the past. “Okay, you might be right.”

Toph hums, reaching for the brush again. Her fingers glide along the bristles and she rubs the ink between her fingers. “My point is, I don’t really need to learn to read. I have you guys for that. But -”

“...Yeah?”

She curls into herself, just a tad.“I just wanted to know what you looked like….at least on paper. So thanks for showing me in a way I can see it.”

Sokka grabs her fingers and wipes her fingers with the edges of his tunic. Toph is always a bit of a grimy mess but ever since their fight on the airships he takes particular care of her hands. He's always reaching for them, looking at them, making sure they're okay. They were once all he had to hold on to her. “No problem, Toph.” 

She pushes the paper and brushes aside and scoots away from him, digging her feet more deeply into the soft earth. “Want to see how many Appa figurines I can mold before Momo gets jealous and steps on them?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

* * *

A week later, Toph tracks him down, taking out one of Zuko’s unsuspecting servants in the hall. Tea goes everywhere but, she’s a girl on a mission and she tackles Sokka in a hug before she presents him with a neatly tied scrap of a scroll that’s definitely made from one of Suki’s spare ribbons. 

“I did it! I wrote something!”

“Yeah?” Sokka says, gently pushing her arm away. He’s pretty sure she gave his upper lip a paper cut. “What’s it say?”

“You have to tell me. Otherwise I won’t know if I did a good job.”

“Fair enough.” He unrolls the tiny scroll, corners ripped from one of Zuko’s spare documents, and reads the name she’s written, in perfect calligraphy.

_Sokka_

“This is _my_ name,” he whispers, fingers tracing the ink. 

Toph cheers, fist pumping in the air. “Yes! Success! I practiced _all_ week! It took forever to memorize the strokes! Is it really messy? Please tell me it isn’t messy. Zuko didn’t sound like he was lying.”

Honestly, it’s perfect. It’s better than his own handwriting. When he had started to teach Toph to write her name, he never expected her to get it so clean and perfect. He always imagined that it would look more like his artistic attempts than something made by an artisan. How she pulled it off, he doesn’t know, but Toph pulls off a lot of the amazing and unbelievable.

“It’s _beautiful_ Toph.” 

His voice is all choked up, scratchy and not at all very manly, but Toph doesn’t call him out on it. Instead she sidles up to him and gives his shoulder a friendly bump without the bruise. “Don’t get sappy on me, Sokka. It’s just your name.”

He doesn’t need seismic sense to know she’s not completely telling the truth.

It’s definitely more. 

“...Sokka? Do you think this qualifies me to be Zuko’s scribe?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah idk


End file.
